HPA seeks third BIIF title in four years

Published October 19, 2013 - 12:05am

By KEVIN JAKAHI

Stephens Media Hawaii

KEAAU — Hawaii Preparatory Academy senior outside hitter Tiana Reynolds can work on her ball-control every day, whether she’s playing in an important match or just kicking it at home. That’s because her sister, Tehane Reynolds, is a junior setter responsible for feeding her the ball.

The sisters combined to put down the last two points as HPA outlasted Ka‘u 25-15, 23-25, 25-15, 27-25 in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II girls volleyball semifinals Friday night at Koaia Gym, earning an eighth consecutive trip to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state tournament.

HPA (12-3) plays Konawaena (13-2) at 5:30 p.m. today for the BIIF championship with a shot to win its third title in four years. The Wildcats last won the league title in 1998.

In the first semifinal, the Wildcats defeated Pahoa 25-20, 24-26, 25-13, 25-10. Konawaena is going to states for the third straight year.

The Trojans (10-6), the defending BIIF champion, play Pahoa (8-8) at 4 p.m. today in the third-place match for the final spot in the Division II state tourney.

Tiana finished with 17 kills while Gabbie Ewing added 14, the only Ka Makani players in double digits. They accounted for most of HPA’s 42 kills.

“We didn’t play our best, to our full potential,” Tiana said. “We want to use this experience and play better on Saturday.

On the other side of the net, Toni Beck kept returning fire and collected 24 kills and Kama Fujikawa contributed 15 kills to lead the Trojans, who had 45 kills.

HPA’s better ball-control showed up at the end line with seven aces and just three service errors. Ka‘u also had seven aces, but hurt itself with 11 service errors.

The biggest disparity was unforced errors (hitting, serving, ball-handling). The Trojans were their own worst enemy with 48 giveaway points.

HPA had just 27 unforced errors, often keeping the ball in play until Ka‘u made some sort of mistake.

“It’s all about ball-control,” HPA coach Sharon Peterson said. “I thought we fought well and had good ball-control. That’s what it comes down to, who controls the ball.”

What also helped HPA was its height with 5-foot-11 middle blockers Alaina Bradley and Seychelle Francis, 5-10 outside hitter Anna Juan, and Tiana, an inch shorter. Ewing is 5-7 but plays much bigger with her jumping ability.

Bradley had four kills, Francis three and Juan had one kill. But defense made a big difference, and all three touched the ball enough, giving HPA’s back-row defenders a better chance to keep plays going.

“We’ve got good blockers. They’re not club players,” Peterson said. “Francis has been with us for four years, but is still learning the game. Bradley came off the junior varsity. But we need them. They are tall and that’s good. … But we need to get together and make our block whole.”

In Game 4, Beck, a 5-11 senior middle, had a monster performance with 12 kills, but all that production was offset with her team’s 12 unforced errors.

HPA staged a dramatic comeback, trailing 23-21, starting with an Ewing kill and a Tehane Reynolds ace. Then the two teams traded points.

The Wildcats played a hair cleaner with only 26 giveaway points, one less than the Daggers.

Konawaena had nine aces with three from Kaela Avanilla, and Pahoa had seven aces with three from Colobong.

In Game 1, the Daggers had just five unforced errors to the Wildcats’ 10 giveaway points, and closed to 21-19. But two of Pahoa’s hitting errors were committed near the finish line, including game point.

Down 24-23 in the second set, Oguma dropped one of her seven kills to tie it.

Later Subia, a freshman setter/hitter, put down set point.

Block, who knocked down her first five swings, blasted seven kills in the set while the Molina sisters had five kills each.

In Game 3, Avanilla served 14 straight points for a 15-2 cushion, a run that ended on a service error.

The junior middle blocker had three aces, and Chanelle had five kills during the run, which happened with Block, her team’s top passer, in the front row.

Block had two of Pahoa’s four kills; the rest of the points were on Konawaena giveaway points.

In the fourth set, Wall served nine consecutive points for a 12-2 lead, a run that stopped on a ball-handling error.